A Triple Crown Winner in 2010?

Heading into this 2010 Major League Baseball season, one of the surest bets is that the year will fail once again to produce a Triple Crown winner, at least on the offensive side of the ball. The pitcher's Triple Crown was attained as recently as 2007, when the Padres' Jake Peavy turned the trick. However, not since 1967, when Boston's Carl Yastrzemski led the American League in batting average, runs batted in and tied with Harmon Killebrew of the Twins for the most home runs, has there been a Triple Crown among the hitters.

In the American League, the Triple Crown will probably have to wait until Seattle's Ichiro calls it quits, because barring a serious season-ending injury, he is more than likely going to hit for a higher average than anybody in contention for the home run and RBI titles. The home run champs from last year, Carlos Pena of Tampa Bay and Mark Teixiera of the Yankees, are not going to hit for average along the lines of Ichiro. Your best chances of a Triple Crown come from hitters such as Joe Mauer of the Twins and Evan Longoria of the Rays. Mauer has the better odds, as he will hit for the average and has shown more pop lately as far as the long ball. Longoria hit .281 in 2009, but does have the tools to hit well over .300.

The Cardinals' Albert Pujols would be the first thought for someone trying to name a potential National League hitter to score a Triple Crown, but a look at his numbers, although fantastic, reveals some surprises. Pujols has only won the batting title once, in 2003, and has one home run crown, last year's 47 doing the trick. He has never led the league in runs batted in and with the number of intentional walks he receives doubling from 2007's 22 to the 44 he took in 2009, a Triple Crown seems unlikely. Milwaukee's Prince Fielder and Ryan Howard of the Phillies, two huge threats to win home run and RBI titles, have no chance to lead the league in hitting. Milwaukee's Ryan Braun would have to get some consideration, as he was in the top ten in hitting, homers and RBI in 2009.

The pitching Triple Crown, most wins, lowest earned run average and most strikeouts, is a much more attainable feat. Since the Yaz Triple Crown in 1967, eight hurlers have accomplished this, with names like Clemens, Gooden, Johnson and Santana on the list. In the American League, Seattle's Felix Hernandez would seem to be up to this task, as would the Royals' Zack Grienke or the Tigers' Justin Verlander. Tim Lincecum of the Giants will do this at least once it would seem, based on his numbers from the last couple of seasons. Roy Halladay of the Phillies would be hard pressed to have more strikeouts than Lincecum, but should compete well in the other two categories.

Some of the more interesting facts concerning the Triple Crown for hitters would have to include Ty Cobb doing it in 1909 with a total of just 9 home runs and Rogers Hornsby doing it twice, both times eclipsing the .400 mark. Frank Robinson's .316 average in 1966, during an era of pitching domination, is the lowest Triple Crown winning average, but his 49 homers was second only to the 52 that Mickey Mantle slugged in 1956. Lou Gehrig's 165 RBI in 1934 were the most for a winner and are two more than Jimmie Foxx had the previous year; in 1933, Foxx of the Athletics and Chuck Klein of the Phillies both were Triple Crown winners, in the same city no less.

The most impressive pitcher's Triple Crown season of the modern era may belong to Sandy Koufax, who in 1965 was 26 and 8 with a 2.04 ERA and 382 strikeouts. Pedro Martinez has a noteworthy season as well, going 23 and 4 in 1999 with 313 strikeouts, in the hard-hitting American League no less. Pete Alexander and Walter Johnson join Koufax with three of these seasons; in 1913, Johnson went 36-7 with a 1.14 ERA and struck out 243 batters. Koufax's trio of Triple Crowns came in a four-year span; a dominance that anyone who faced him would tell you was unparalleled in the sport. While no batter could end his reign on the mound, the arthritis in his pitching elbow could, leaving us to wonder for all time what his numbers would have looked like had he continued on unfettered.